ING Groep NV Purchases New Stake in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

ING Groep NV purchased a new stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 80,730 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $20,747,000.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Tradition Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Applied Materials by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,031 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $265,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the period. Godsey & Gibb Inc. grew its position in Applied Materials by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Godsey & Gibb Inc. now owns 1,298 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $334,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the period. Family Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Applied Materials by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Family Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,227 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,086,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the period. Denali Advisors LLC grew its position in Applied Materials by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 4,582 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,178,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the period. Finally, Traveka Wealth LLC grew its position in Applied Materials by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Traveka Wealth LLC now owns 1,404 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $361,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on AMAT shares. KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $450.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $502.00 price target (up from $454.00) on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday, May 15th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $450.00 to $525.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $500.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, B. Riley Financial lifted their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $530.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Twenty-seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $470.13.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Prabu G. Raja sold 50,000 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $505.28, for a total transaction of $25,264,000.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 356,642 shares in the company, valued at $180,204,069.76. The trade was a 12.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Brice Hill sold 2,500 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $498.86, for a total value of $1,247,150.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 136,113 shares in the company, valued at $67,901,331.18. The trade was a 1.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 53,896 shares of company stock valued at $27,135,121. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Applied Materials Price Performance

AMAT opened at $453.01 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 2.51 and a quick ratio of 1.80. The company has a market capitalization of $359.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.67. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $408.94 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $343.11. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1 year low of $154.46 and a 1 year high of $510.75.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.68 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $7.91 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.68 billion. Applied Materials had a net margin of 29.31% and a return on equity of 36.97%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.39 EPS. Applied Materials has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 3.160-3.560 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 12.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.53 per share. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 21st. This is a positive change from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.91%.

About Applied Materials

Applied Materials, Inc is a U.S.-based supplier of equipment, services and software used to manufacture semiconductor chips, flat panel displays and other advanced materials. Headquartered in Santa Clara, California, the company designs and sells capital equipment and related technologies that enable production of integrated circuits, display panels and materials used across the electronics supply chain.

Applied Materials’ offerings include process equipment and factory software that support critical steps in device fabrication, such as deposition, etch, implantation, inspection and metrology, as well as systems for packaging and advanced heterogeneous integration.